Who knows how many times you’ve used this phrase in your life without truly understanding its underlying meaning.
Of course, it’s a motto, a common expression, a phrase used to convey to our interlocutors that we are certain of what we are saying, so much so that we’re willing to bet our lives on it!
And what if I told you that its literal meaning is very similar to that dictated by the sense of the phrase?
Yes, because this expression, with a centuries-old past, is not really a metaphor. Or at least it wasn’t when it was born. The phrase was meant to convey, by the one who uttered it, “I was so sure of my action that, to punish my hand for its fatal error, I am ready to put my hand in the fire (of the brazier)!”
To discover the origin of this particular story, you have to follow me back in time, to a past that is lost in the memories of a distant era when, however, there were people who gave life to our present and our future: the Etruscans and the ancient Romans.
We’re around 508 BC, in a Rome besieged by the Etruscans – led by the commander Porsenna – who want to regain control of the city after the expulsion of the last King of Rome, Tarquin the Proud.
Supplies in the camps are starting to run low, the soldiers are weary, and there seems to be no moment of peace after a year of bloody battles.
To end the conflict, a young aristocrat who cannot bear the idea of a possible return to monarchy, presents himself to the Senate and proposes to kill Porsenna, thereby ending the war and saving the recently established Republic.
This young man is Gaius Mucius Cordus.
Disguised as a soldier, the young man gets lost in the crowd of the Etruscan camp and, with a dagger hidden under his cloak, manages to approach the commander Porsenna and his scribe who are distributing pay to soldiers in line.
The two, commander and scribe, are dressed in very similar attire, and Gaius decides not to ask who the commander is among the two, confident that he won’t make a mistake. Thus, he launches an attack with his knife and kills the wrong person: the throat he cut was not the right one. Gaius has stabbed the scribe.
Almost immediately apprehended by the king’s guards after a brief escape, instead of denying the act to avoid the stake, Gaius not only confirms his action but also places his right hand on a brazier, letting it be consumed by the flames and heat to punish it for that grave mistake.
Legend tells us that the commander Porsenna, seeing the courage and honesty of the young man, decided to spare his life and withdraw his troops, also frightened by the fact that Gaius had revealed (bluffing…) that another three hundred supporters of Rome were ready to kill him and have the same courage as the boy.
From that day on, Gaius Mucius Cordus became Gaius Mucius Scaevola (pronounced “Scevola”), because of the loss of his right hand and the forced use of his left hand. Scaevola, in fact, from the Latin “Scaevus,” also means left-handed.
Gaius was truly ready to put his hand in the fire, to punish the certainty that had actually led him to error, but in other languages, did they maintain the same expression?
First of all, given the etymological origin of the phrase, it is appropriate to remember the Latin form Manum ad ignem ponere, followed by similar versions in:
Italian:
Metterci la mano sul fuoco
Spanish
Poner las manos en el fuego por alguien
French
Mettre sa main au feu.
German
Die Hand ins Feuer legen
As said before, in English, there the form which literally translates the Italian version of ‘ci metterei la mano sul fuoco,’ is ‘I would put my hand on fire’ to show how sure I am, but it’s a somewhat outdated expression.
To express the same concept, however, much more commonly used forms are ‘I would not hold my breath on that’ or ‘I would not bet on it.’
Discovering the origin of many idioms or proverbs that are now commonly used in our vocabulary and in our way of communicating ideas or feelings to others can help us understand not only the evolution of language but, as in this case, it also allows us to discover small fragments of the past.
Legend or not, history or not, what is certain is that the Italian phrase ‘ci metto la mano sul fuoco’, really common in the Italian language, has crossed space and time and has reached us, passing from mouth to mouth and from letter to letter since ancient Roman times.
Therefore, not only ruins, statues, and buildings, but also words and proverbs can confirm the immense connection that humanity has with its past. A past that we don’t always remember, but that we often use in our daily lives, attesting to the Latin origins of Italian cultural tradition, and beyond.
Ig – @fairness_mag
